Industrial processing facilities for food, paper, drug and other manufacturing that involve the use of and removal of large amounts of water have a continuing need for more efficient and more economical equipment and processes for removal of water from raw material streams and/or intermediate product streams. Rising fuel costs always bring more urgency to the need for more efficient and lower cost water removal and dehydration technologies.
Industrial manufacturing and processing facilities that produce hazardous air pollutant (HAP), including volatile organic compound (VOC), emissions have a continuing need for more effective and more economical equipment and processes for control and prevention of such emissions into the atmosphere. Increasing regulatory pressure from federal, state and provincial Environmental Protection Agencies (EPAs) on industrial operations to eliminate or reduce HAP emission is resulting in more urgency for improved and more economical HAP emission control technologies.
Prior art systems have not satisfactorily addressed the problem of HAP emissions produced in industrial manufacturing operations. Sources of such emissions are the manufacturing processes themselves and the materials produced in the manufacturing processes. Some of these emissions are passed through scrubbers or converters to contain or alter the HAP content, but some are typically and frequently vented or released to the atmosphere, and are environmentally objectionable due to the atmospheric pollution caused by the VOCs, greenhouse gases and other components contained therein.
Examples of the prior art publications that have addressed the above problems include U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,866,752 to Goozner, and 6,944,967 to Staples, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
It is apparent from the above that there is a substantial unmet need for environmentally and economically acceptable technologies for control and prevention of HAP emissions and for economical removal of water from high water content process streams. The present invention is directed to methods, apparatus, systems and products for meeting some or all of these needs.